The U.S. State Department’s Human Trafficking Report 2014 is out, and Belize has been downgraded on the Tier Two watch list. The annual report evaluates countries on their efforts to combat human trafficking, and where Belize is concerned, the evaluation is not a good one. The report claims that the government of Belize does not […]
The report observes other inadequacies in government’s efforts to combat human trafficking, claiming that authorities failed to protect victims of human trafficking while in Belize, and also failed to safely repatriate victims. It is an outright condemnation of the government, but more so the Human Trafficking Council which is the front line operational committee. Alpuche […]
A total of twelve teachers have been fired as a result of the merger of three high schools in Belize City. It means that if the Ministry of Education has its way, they will not be able to teach in the upcoming school year. But the group of teachers from Maud Williams, Sadie Vernon and […]
Public Service Day is celebrated every year on June twenty-third. This morning, a number of public officers with a quarter of a century of service were honored at an all day event held at the Belize Biltmore Plaza under the theme: “Public Service! Service for You, Service for Me, Serving the People, Serving Belize.” Duane […]
A mass congregation of approximately two thousand men, women and children, primarily of Maya descent, converged on the primary school compound in the village of Indian Creek on Sunday for what was being called The Gathering of Children of the Earth. The meeting at that venue was the second largest since June 2010, when Chief […]
A nineteen year old woman alleges that bail bondsman Adil Abdullah raped her on June thirteenth in an area off Mile eight on the George Price Highway. She has provided specific details to the police saying among other things that the sexual abuse happened when he was to take her to an apartment and […]
A major blunder by the Lands Department concerning a three hundred by sixty feet parcel near the municipal airstrip in San Pedro has resulted in a huge land dispute between Tropic Air and Construction Depot Ltd., one of several companies registered to Brett and Sean Feinstein of the Benny’s Group. The situation comes amid a […]
On January eighth, 2012, Antonio Edwards, a resident of Jacintoville in the Toledo District, was seriously injured when a large flitch of rosewood fell off a flatbed truck and crushed his legs. Edwards was returning from church that Sunday afternoon when the vehicle reportedly came speeding around a curve, flinging the log in his […]
The Belize Hotels Association held its annual general meeting at the Biltmore this morning where hoteliers from across the country gathered to discuss the state of the tourism and hospitality industries. Keynote speaker at the AGM was Director of Tourism Karen Bevans. It was Bevans’ first time addressing the association since her appointment to the […]
There were smiling faces today at the Ladyville Adventist School. It was a special day for students who had successfully completed the Gang Resistance Education and Training Program of the Police Department. The program is being implemented at a number of schools to motivate youths who are at risk to stay the course and keep […]
A six million dollar project on the island of San Pedro has come to a complete stop, and Minister of Natural Resources Gaspar Vega says the reason is human error in the Lands Department. Tropic Air has a valid lease to a piece of property just off the municipal airstrip. The site is allocated for […]
That story was done in San Pedro at around midday today. At almost exactly the same time in Orange Walk, Minister of Natural Resources, Gaspar Vega, broke the news that his Ministry had cancelled the lease issued to Tropic Air. The title issued to Construction Depot will stand because it is a title, even if […]
Ground was broken for a new runway at Tower Hill this morning and we’ll have that story coming up. But the contract for the works was awarded to Imer Hernandez, who is the nephew of Deputy Prime Minister, Gaspar Vega. The runway is the second large public works project given to Hernandez in one week, […]
The names of the members of the new Belize Airports Authority Board were revealed this past Tuesday and by today, the Board along with its new minister, Manuel Heredia Junior, hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for the upgrade of the Orange Walk Airstrip. Now, there is a lot of public scrutiny on the B.A.A. because five […]
On Wednesday, Attorney-General Wilfred Elrington was asked his opinion on the reappointment of Justice Samuel Awich. He expounded at length, but he also took the opportunity to vent on the Bar Association of Belize. We showed you some of it on Wednesday’s newscast, but there’s more. Elrington also revisited a move he made last year […]
As we told you earlier, work will soon begin on the rehabilitation of an old dirt runway that will become a modern airstrip to accommodate domestic flights to the Orange Walk District. The project is costing seven hundred and forty-nine thousand dollars. The new players of the Belize Airports Authority were along with Minister of […]
There was commotion at the Tourism Village this afternoon when a man attempting to sell his wares was roughed up by the police and taken in custody. His detention was followed by that of another vendor. It raised the ire of other vendors who claim they are being prohibited from selling in certain areas. […]
Maud Williams High school teachers are now on vacation; but while they are attending a school workshop, some were surprised with dismissal letters this afternoon, resulting from the merger of three south side schools. While the Maud Williams teachers were the first to receive their marching orders, it is expected that dismissal letters will also […]
The Auditor-General’s report on the Won Hong Kim/Elvin Penner immigration scandal is still not available for public consumption. The result of the investigation was handed over to the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Immigration three months ago, but it has been kept under tight wraps. But not air-tight, it seems, and a leaked copy […]
Belizeans are anxiously awaiting their first look at the comprehensive Auditor-General’s report, whenever it is tabled. We have been told by COLA that it is damning and implicates Elvin Penner and other persons directly in the immigration scandal. We have also been told that in that report the Auditor-General recommends that Penner and others be […]
Earlier this week the Cotton Tree Village Council took the government of Belize to court over two hundred and fifty four lots. Those lots, allegedly within the community, are part of a large plot which was acquired and then subdivided by government. The lots are allegedly being given to eight U.D.P. Area Representatives in Belize […]
In May 2012, Supreme Court Judge Samuel Lungole Awich was sworn in as a Justice of the Court of Appeal. That appointment was not supported by the Bar Association, and neither was the decision in May 2014 to renew and extend his contract. One of the criticisms levied against Justice Awich then and now is […]
The appointment has sparked off a heated, but surgical verbal flurry between Prime Minister Dean Barrow and President of the Bar Eamon Courtenay. Today Attorney-General Wilfred Elrington weighed in, venting his long-held frustration at a Bar Association which he says serves no useful purpose. Wilfred ‘Sedi’ Elrington, Attorney-General “The leadership of the Bar has […]
Last Thursday, a group of conservation N.G.O.s expressed their concern via letter about a proposed mega-tourism project, the Puerto Azul development, within the Lighthouse Reef Atoll. That letter was sent to Chair of the Cabinet Subcommittee on Investment, Godwin Hulse. In it, the group is asking for disclosure, additional information on the methodology which government […]
During the dismantling of the Belize City Center in mid-September 2013, one of the inner walls of the structure collapsed and fell on Egbert Jones while he was working. The twenty-three-year-old was one of a hundred men, including at risk youths and gang members, who was offered a job at the site under the contract […]
